Frequently asked questions on the European Talent Support Network

Questions were received from all over Europe. Answers are given by Peter Csermely, president of ECHA. If you have any additional questions, please send it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

What are the major values of the European Talent Support Network and what are the benefits of joining this network?The major values of the European Talent Support Network are high quality work, reliability, sharing and giving. The Network will be informal, personal, transparent, consistent, rational and communicative. The Network will be a learning organization, which avoids bureaucracy and acts instead of writing about an act. The benefits of joining this Network are the following: 1.) your organization may establish novel exchange possibilities of talented young people, their teachers, mentors and researchers of talent support in Europe; 2.) your organization may learn and teach best practices of talent support activities, as well as may apply the results of scientific studies in gifted education in the everyday work; 3.) your organization may apply a wide variety of European funds, such as Erasmus+, Horizon2020 (including COST-cooperation), European Social Fund, etc. as a joint application with other European Talent Centres; 4.) European Talent Centres may express the needs of talented young people, gifted education and related research at the level of European policy making, as well as in the media increasing the awareness of the importance of identification and help of talented young people in Europe.

How can European Talent Centre or European Talent Point be defined?European Talent Centres organise activities in the field of high ability in a region or a whole country (meaning that there might be more than one European Talent Centre per European country). European Talent Centres will be accredited by the Accreditation Committee of the European Council of High Ability (https://www.echa.info/101-formation-of-a-european-talent-support-network-adopted-by-the-general-assembly-of-echa). A more detailed list of European Talent Centre criteria can be found HERE (https://www.echa.info/images/documents/high-ability/European-Talent-Support-Network-ECHA-General-Assembly.pdf). European Talent Points organise local activities in the field of high ability. European Talent Points will be accredited by the European Talent Centres. European Talent Points may be organisations/institutions focusing mainly on talent support: research, identification, development of highly able young people (e. g: schools, university departments, talent centres, excellence centres, art, sport organizations focusing to talent development, NGOs, etc.); talent-related policy makers on national or international level (ministries, local authorities); business corporation with talent management programmes (talent identification, corporate responsibility programs, creative climate); organizations of young people participating in talent support programs; organizations of parents of highly able children; or an umbrella organization (network) of the organizational types listed here. These types of organizations were only listed as examples. European Talent Centres may extend this list, but the organizations involved have to be related to the support of highly able young people.

Are there any already existing European Talent Centres or European Talent Points?Currently there is no existing European Talent Centre and European Talent Point. The first European Talent Centres will be accredited by the ECHA Accreditation Committee (https://www.echa.info/101-formation-of-a-european-talent-support-network-adopted-by-the-general-assembly-of-echa) by the end of summer of 2015. The Call of Applications can be found here. Applications must be submitted by either using the on-line Application Form or sending the .doc Application Form downloadable from HERE to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by April 7th 2015. Existing Talent Centres and Talent Points refer to organizations dealing with talent support in any European country. As an example, most of the organizations in the European Talent Activity Map (https://www.talentcentrebudapest.eu/talentmap) may be called as an existing Talent Point. They will become a European Talent Point, if they find at least 5 current other Talent Points and form a group with them asking one of them to apply to the Accreditation Committee of ECHA for accreditation as a European Talent Centre. In case the accreditation process is successful, the newly established European Talent Centre will appoint the European Talent Points, which helped its existence. Hopefully, they will find many more European Talent Points in their country or region. Note, that a so-called joint application can also be submitted, where the European Talent Centre candidate does not name European Talent Points but is formed by the alliance of several organizations treating each other as fully equal.

What is the proper size of a European Talent Centre or Point?There can be large variety in sizes. The size depends on the traditions of talent support in the particular European country. It is exactly the European Talent Support Network, which will encourage and help very small European Talent Centres and Points to grow. However, growth itself is not the major value of the Network. High quality work, reliability, sharing and giving will be the major values.

There is no strict minimum of the employees of a European Talent Centre. We understand that in many countries (especially at the begining of their organization) European Talent Centres will have volunteers only. However, it is suggested that the sum of employee or volunteer work should reach approximately the work of two full time employees.

Who can apply to be an accredited European Talent Centre or European Talent Point?Applications for being a European Talent Centre can be submitted by organizations willing to coordinate activities in the field of high ability in larger region (which can be a part of country, a whole country or several European countries). An on-line Application Form is available here: https://www.echa.info/index.php?option=com_chronoforms5&chronoform=EuropeanTalentCentreApplicationForm. A wide range of organizations organizing local activities in the field of high ability can apply to be a European Talent Point. Applications can be submitted to any European Talent Centres starting around the end of 2015. We will announce these application possibilities at this web-site in late autumn of 2015.

Can a national organizational team of the international Olympics of e.g. mathematics be a European Talent Point?Yes. I perceive a wide variety of talent support organizations to join the European Talent Support Network as European Talent Points.

The accrediation process of European Talent Points is not regulated at the European level. We did not design a uniform accrediation process, since we want to adapt the European Talent Support Network to the traditions of the given country or region. We expect rather different accreditation of European Talent Points in cases, where e.g. multiple organizations submitted a joint application to be a European Talent Centre, since such an application does not require the list of European Talent Point candidates at all. Therefore, some European Talent Centres may have European Talent Points only later. Some other European Talent Centres may copy and modify the accrediation process of the European Talent Centres to their European Talent Points. Other European Talent Centres may modify their one or another existing accreditation process to European Talent Points. Obviously, a widely differing accreditation practice of European Talent Points may also cause difficulties (like Talent Point candidates will ask their accrediation at the European Talent Centre having the lowest requirements). Therefore, we expect (and will actively encourage) that representatives of European Talent Centres would meet approximately twice a year to discuss common issues, like the common minimum of accreditation criteria of European Talent Points, joint applications to EU Funds, joint actions, joint European Talent Days, exchanges of talented young people, their teachers, mentors, etc. etc. ECHA and its Accrediation Committee will actively help these consultations.

Does a European Talent Centre or a European Talent Point need to be a corporate member of ECHA to join the European Talent Support Network?No. The Network and ECHA are different entities. If a European Talent Centre or Point joins (voluntarily) as a corporate member of ECHA, it will enjoy the benefits of ECHA corporate membership, i.e. extra news from ECHA, subscription to High Ability Studies, ECHA member discounts of two representatives of the organization at ECHA Conferences, etc.

What is the proper size of a European Talent Centre or Point?There is a large variety in sizes. The size depends on the traditions of talent support in the particular European country. It is exactly the European Talent Support Network, which will encourage and help very small European Talent Centres and Points to grow. However, growth itself is not the major value of the Network. High quality work, reliability, sharing and giving will be the major values.

The Accreditation Committee will ask specific questions from the applicants, if the application will be unclear at some of its points. It may also happen that the Accreditation Committee will check the content of the information on the European Talent Centre candidate on the web, and/or available to ECHA members of the country, where the European Talent Centre candidate is located. Accredited European Talent Centres will have a re-evaluation by the Accrediation Committee each second year.

What happens to the Talent Centre that fails the accreditation process?The accreditation process will be repeated in early 2016. Talent Centres, which were not accredited in the first round, can re-apply. In this repeated application they can utilize the comments of the Accreditation Committee sent on their first application.

How the European Talent Support Network will share knowledge, resources, etc.?This will only be a very gradual process. Sharing of knowledge will proceed via exchanging emails, via mutual visits of young talented people, as well as their mentors, experts, and by establishing joint web-portals. But I am sure that life will bring many other ways of sharing and giving as years will pass by.

Why does the current regulation allow more than one European Talent Centre per country?European countries differ in size and vary in population. Restriction of the number of European Talent Centres to a single one for countries having different traditions and culture in different regions of their country would be a mistake.

Will the network ever be fully expanded?The speed of growth will be determined by the interest of people in joining the Network. The speed by itself will not be a success factor of networking. The joy of talented young people meeting other talented young people from different European countries, the intensity of exchange of best practices and experiences will be much more important than the speed of Network growth. The Network will never be “ready”. I hope we will always discover new and new depths of cooperation of talented young people, their parents, mentors, teachers and researchers in gifted education in Europe.

What is the role of ECHA in the formation of the European Talent Support Network?ECHA’s role is mainly advisory, which helps the formation of the European Talent Support Network. ECHA and Network are not competing with each other. The Network will never perform the roles of ECHA, and ECHA will always be the NGO organization of its members, and will never be transformed to a “talent support regulatory agency” of e.g. the European Union. ECHA’s help in the formation of the Network is especially important to establish and maintain a high quality of the Network via the accreditation of European Talent Centres.

From where the European Talent Centres and Points will get monetary support?Such support can be obtained by joint EU grant applications, e.g. in the form of an Erasmus+ grant, European Social Fund or Horizon 2020 grant. Several European countries have also local sources to fund talent support activities.

How hierarchical will be the European Talent Support network?

The European Talent Support Network should not have a hierarchical structure. Though European Talent Points will be accredited by European Talent Centres, which introduces a certain level of hierarchy to the network, European Talent Points should develop and maintain contacts with each other regardless, if the other European Talent Point was accredited by the same European Talent Centre or not. European Talent Points may also develop contacts with multiple European Talent Centres. However, there will be a possibility for a joint-application to be a European Talent Centre requiring no European Talent Points for that particular Centre. This gives a way to make a fully non-hierarchical network in countries, or regions, where this is preferred.

Become a member of the ECHA community! Please click HERE to start your application to become an ECHA member (where your membership fee can be paid by credit card through a secure connection), or go to the Members Area page, where you may see members' benefits.